Saudi Offers 76 Investment Opportunities in Military, Defense Industries

General Authority for Military Industries in Saudi Arabia organizes a workshop in the capital, Riyadh, to reveal investment opportunities (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General Authority for Military Industries in Saudi Arabia organizes a workshop in the capital, Riyadh, to reveal investment opportunities (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Offers 76 Investment Opportunities in Military, Defense Industries

General Authority for Military Industries in Saudi Arabia organizes a workshop in the capital, Riyadh, to reveal investment opportunities (Asharq Al-Awsat)
General Authority for Military Industries in Saudi Arabia organizes a workshop in the capital, Riyadh, to reveal investment opportunities (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has revealed that it has an estimated 76 investment opportunities in six different areas of defense and military industries.

Ayma al-Hazmi, head of the Saudi Local Content and Government Procurement Committee at the Federation of Saudi Chambers, stressed that the General Authority for Military Industries plays important roles in supporting the process of localizing the sector, and contributing to strengthening the country's strategic independence to build local and sustainable industries.

Speaking at a workshop recently organized by the General Authority for Military Industries in Riyadh, al-Hazmi revealed that coordination is underway for maximizing the benefit of national companies from procurement contracts and military spending.

Al-Hazmi noted that coordination for enhancing the position of national companies in the military industry aligns with the Kingdom’s goals for localizing this sector and making it a part of its sustainable economic development.

The workshop also showcased the most prominent investment opportunities in supply chains across six areas in the military and defense industries sector.

The workshop also highlighted the roles and tasks of the authority aimed at embodying the national ambition to localize more than 50% of government spending on military equipment and services by 2030.

In other news, the Federation of Saudi Chambers, represented by the Saudi-French Business Council, participated in a meeting organized by the Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF).

The meeting focused on investment opportunities in the mining sector in the Kingdom and was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Investment and several Saudi and French companies operating in the mining field.

Chairman of the Saudi-French Business Council Mohammed bin Laden highlighted in his speech the economic importance of the Kingdom's mining sector as one of the most important pillars of the Saudi industry, and the objectives of Vision 2030 to maximize its impact on the gross domestic product and its contribution in the local content and trade balance, achieving its sustainability and improving legislative and investment environment.

The meeting also discussed the investment opportunities available to French companies in the Kingdom's mining sector, and the efforts made during the past years to strengthen the sector, introduce its components and capabilities, attract foreign investors, and improve its business environment, through the relevant competent authorities, led by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Investment.

The French side expressed the interest of French investors to invest in the Saudi mining sector, reiterating that this participation would achieve an added value for the sector through the transfer and localization of the leading French expertise.



Trump Says He Will End All Taxes on Overtime if Elected 

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump motions while attending the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump motions while attending the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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Trump Says He Will End All Taxes on Overtime if Elected 

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump motions while attending the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump motions while attending the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP)

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will end all taxes on overtime pay as part of a wider tax cut package, if he is elected in the Nov. 5 election.

"As part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime," Trump said in remarks at a rally in Tucson, Arizona. "Your overtime hours will be tax-free."

Trump, who faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in what polls show to be a tight race, has previously said he would seek legislation to end the taxation of tips to aid service workers. Harris has made a similar pledge.

"He is desperate and scrambling and saying whatever it takes to try to trick people into voting for him," a Harris campaign spokesperson said in response to Trump's proposal on Thursday.

At a campaign event this month with union workers, Harris accused Trump of "blocking" overtime from millions of workers during his 2017-2021 presidency.

In 2019, the Trump administration issued a rule increasing the eligibility of overtime pay to 1.3 million additional US workers, replacing a more generous proposal that had been introduced by President Barack Obama, Trump's Democratic predecessor.

The Trump administration raised the salary level for exemption from overtime pay to $35,568 a year, up from the long-standing $23,660 threshold. Workers’ rights groups criticized the move, saying it covered far fewer workers than the scheme introduced under Obama.

Under Obama, the Labor Department proposed raising the threshold to more than $47,000, which would have made nearly 5 million more workers eligible for overtime. That rule was later struck down in court.

Overtime pay at these income levels overwhelmingly benefits blue-collar workers, such as fast-food workers, nurses, store assistants and other low-income employees.

"The people who work overtime are among the hardest working citizens in our country and for too long no one in Washington has been looking out for them," Trump said on Thursday.

Under Labor Department rules, eligible workers must be paid at least time-and-a-half for hours worked above 40 hours in a single work week.

As of last month, American factory workers in non-supervisory roles put in an average of 3.7 hours of overtime a week, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.

Not taxing overtime would result in less government revenue, at a time when Trump's plan to permanently extend the tax cuts he passed as president would expand the US deficit by $3.5 trillion through 2033, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The US budget deficit in the first 11 months of this fiscal year is $1.9 trillion.

It's unclear how much revenue the government receives from taxes on overtime pay.

Trump's proposal would be a first for the federal government. Alabama this year became the first state to exclude overtime wages for hourly workers from state taxes as a temporary measure that won legislative support in part to help employers fill jobs in a tight labor market. The exemption is for 18 months only.